Vote 2002
Water, health care key issues
House District 11 seat draws four hopefuls
- - - - - - - - - - - -
by Staff (Editorial@boulderweekly.com)

Leona Stoecker (R) is the former mayor of Longmont who had to relinquish a post she loved because of term limits. Now she's running for State House District 11.

"I really did get a great deal of satisfaction out of serving the people in this town," Stoecker said, noting that during her tenure as mayor she gained exposure to regional and state issues.

She served 18 years on the Longmont Water Board and therefore considers herself qualified to tackle the "very hot topic" of guaranteeing the domestic water supply during a prolonged drought.

Health care is an issue to which Stoecker has devoted considerable study, and after discussions with health-care providers she believes that tort reform and reforming federal mandates would resolve some of the factors that are causing spiraling health-care costs.

Stoecker advocates tax cuts to stimulate the local economy. Boulder County's transportation problems are too big to leave up to the Boulder City Council, according to Stoecker; she says Mayor Will Toor held out against accepting federal funds to expand U.S. 36 until he was promised a bicycle path.

Lowering taxes is also the best way to keep housing costs low, she added. "That way real people can actually live here with the tax burden."

Stoecker says she is gratified by the formation of Democrats for Leona and "the wonderful bipartisan support I've received. Potholes are not Democratic and Republican."

Jack Pommer (D) wrote a legislative bill last year to improve stroke care which was carried in the state Legislature by Rep. Todd Saliman, passed by both the House and Senate, and signed into law by Gov. Owens. He caught the legislative bug.

"It kind of whetted my appetite to do more," Pommer said, citing growth, health care and education as issues he wants to work on.

Growth is a "give and take" cycle, Pommer says, between developers and government. "Government can create the potential for growth, then growth happens and reaches capacity, then government gets concerned. Growth can then cause more government. It oscillates."

Government can lower health costs for senior citizens and others by forming a "buyers' group" to bulk purchase prescription drugs, Pommer says. "They could negotiate lower prices just like insurance companies do."

Providing more immediate care to stroke victims could save government-funded health programs big dollars by preventing later catastrophic care, Pommer points out. "There are new treatments available that can almost reverse the effects of a stroke if given within three hours," he said.

There's also an underutilized pneumonia vaccine that could prevent the hospitalization of thousands of seniors each winter, Pommer went on.

Reducing class sizes to less than 20 students should be a top priority for the state Legislature-that's Pommer's education plan. "It might take another Amendment 23 type of measure, but we should set it as a high priority," he said, noting that long-term studies show that students who have consistently experienced low teacher/student ratios graduate from college more often than their high ratio counterparts.

Isaac Davenport (L) was acknowledged by both of his major party opponents as a "very sharp young man" and "in the running."

He's running for the Colorado House of Representatives to "represent smaller government ideas. There's a shortage of people who will not compromise when they get into the Legislature," Davenport said.

In 1998, Davenport received a doctoral degree in electrical engineering from CU, and is now a designer of scientific instrumentation, partner and consultant with Kinetek Systems of east Boulder.

He joined the Libertarian Party in 1997. "Getting people to take a stake in the a third party is really a trick. A lot of what we can do is shape the debate, give a voice to those who really do want smaller government."

Davenport has paid homeless, street-corner people to put away their cardboard signs and hold a "Vote Libertarian" sign instead. He'll pay them up to $15 to hold the political sign for an hour, but he only pays after verifying that the homeless person stayed at his or her post.

Education should be privatized by offering $3,000 tax rebates to parents who remove their children from public schools and enroll them in private schools-this is an idea Davenport got from Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Ralph Shnelvar. Half of the usual per-student state allotment of $6,000 would remain to fund public schools, Davenport explained.

"Growth should pay its own way," he continued. "People who benefit from a highway, road or water project should pay for them."

Currently, the public paradigm is that government should guarantee health care to all. "We need to change that," Davenport said, " and maybe offer a 'food stamp' system to buy health insurance and pay for office visits."

Mark Mellott (NL) has run a virtually invisible, silent campaign. His web site says he's an educational consultant living in Boulder, but other than that contains only the vague political statements of the Natural Law Party and the fact that Mellott joined the party in 1992.

His affiliation with the Natural Law Party places him in favor of preventive medicine, crime prevention, education that develops the student's full potential, mandatory labeling of genetically modified foods, renewable energy sources and de-emphasizing America's warlike stance and exportation of weapons.

Respond: letters@boulderweekly.com